Service station gas leak contaminated Reno water

Wednesday, June 3, 1998 | 1:24 a.m.

The ARCO station at Mill Street and Kietzke Lane apparently leaked 15,000 gallons of gas into the surrounding aquifer this winter, said Dave McNinch, the Washoe District Health Department's public health environmentalist.

The leak is threatening a well owned by Sierra Pacific Power Co. Although there is no immediate threat to local drinking water supplies, it could place added pressure on the supplies if the summer is especially hot and dry.

Sierra Pacific Power officials say they have stopped using the well in the path of the gas plume. ARCO discovered the leak in February and is working to assess the contamination.

"Without knowing all the facts, it's more prudent to not operate that well," Paul Miller, Sierra Pacific's senior water treatment engineer, told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The company is drilling five monitoring wells this week to supplement eight other wells put in earlier this year. One of the wells has benzene levels 460 times the federal drinking water standard.

The gas leaked out of an 11-year-old tank when station employees accidentally punched a hole in the bottom with a wooden dip stick.

Sierra Pacific has enough resources to meet the peak daily demand of 143 gallons of water, Miller said. Last summer, daily demand peaked at 122 million gallons.

"If everything is working and demand is the same as last year, we'll be okay," Miller said. "But what if something else goes down? What if demand is a little bit higher this year?"

McNinch gave ARCO credit for acting quickly to assess the damage. He said it could cost $500,000 to clean the aquifer and surrounding soil.

"Just by virtue of how far the contamination traveled, it likely occurred over a period of time. I won't say years."